3rd Sem Mechanical MSM Heat Treatment 31.08.

19

Material Science & Metallurgy

Heat Treatment of Steels

Contents of Chapter
 Limitation and Usefulness of Iron-Iron
Carbide Equilibrium Diagram.
 Time Temperature Transformation diagram
eutectoid steel
 Bainite, Pearlite & Martensite
 Purpose of Heat Treatment
 Types of Heat Treatment
 Annealing, Normalizing, Hardening
 Continuous cooling Transformation
 Nucleation and growth

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3rd Sem Mechanical MSM Heat Treatment 31.08.19

Continue
 Hardenability
 Austenization Process
 Tempering, Austempering, Martempering
 Tempered Martensite
 Effect of other alloying elements on
CCT/TTT diagram
 Case Hardening
 Surface Hardening

T.T.T. Diagram
 Introduction
 Importance of T.T.T. diagram
 Steps to construct T.T.T. diagram
 T.T.T. Diagram for
◦ Eutectoid steel
◦ Hype eutectoid steel
◦ Hyper eutectoid steel
 T.T.T. Diagrams and Cooling Curves.
 Critical Cooling Rate

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Micro constitutes of Fe-Fe3C

Diagram
 Austenite
 Pearlite
 Bainite
 Martensite

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3rd Sem Mechanical MSM Heat Treatment 31.08.19

Transformation to Pearlite &

Bainite

Heat Treatment
 Heat treatment is a combination of different operations
involving the heating and cooling of metals and alloys in the
solid state to obtain certain required structures and
desirable properties suitable of Particular operation.
 All basic heat-treating processes for steel involves the
transformation or decomposition of austenite.
 The nature and appearance of these transformation
products determine the physical and mechanical properties
of any steel.
 The first step in the heat treatment of steel is to heat the
material above the critical range in order to form austenite.
 The rate of heating to the desire temperature is less
important than other factors.
 But, highly stressed materials produced by cold work should
be heated more slowly than stress-free material to avoid
distortion.

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3rd Sem Mechanical MSM Heat Treatment 31.08.19

General steps of Heat Treatment

Temp

Holding/Soaking
Heating Annealing/Furnace Cooling

Normalizing/Air Cooling

Hardening/Water Quenching

Time

About Heat Treatment (HT)

 All heat treatment processes for steel involve
transformation of austenite.
 In HT, steel experience changes if heating and
cooling above critical temperature (As per Iron-C
diagram). For Eutectoid steels the critical
temperature above which Austenite phase
produces is 7270C)
 Cooling rate plays vital role for transformation of
austenite in to pearlite, martensite etc (TTT or I-
T diagram).
 Variety and useful physical and mechanical
properties of steel obtain because of this
transformation.

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About Heat Treatment (HT)

 TTT diagram helps for knowing the transformation products
with different cooling rates
 Cooling rate is an important factor in developing soft/hard
structure
 Slow cooling of austenized steel produce pearlite structure
where as rapid cooling produce martensite structure.

Heat Treatment steps:

1) Steel heated above austenitizing temp.
 During which previous structure of steel
converted into austenite phase
2) After reaching austenitizing temp. steel is
held at this temp for some time known
as holding time/socking time.
 Socking results in the formation of
homogeneous austenite throughout the
entire structure.

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3rd Sem Mechanical MSM Heat Treatment 31.08.19

Heat Treatment steps:

3) Steel with homogeneous austenite is
cooled to room temperature.
 Cooling rate depend upon properties
required.
4) If required(tempering) steel may be
reheated below lower critical
temperature and cooled again.

Purpose of Heat Treatment:

 Improvement of Ductility
 Relieving internal stresses produced in cold
working
 Refinement of grain size
 Increased hardness or tensile strength
 Improvement in machinablility
 Improvement in toughness.
 To improve coring or segregation.
 Increase heat, wear and corrosion resistance.

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Types of Heat Treatment of Steels:

 Annealing
 Normalizing
 Hardening
 Tempering
 Martempring and Austempering
 Case Hardening
 Surface Hardening

Annealing
Topics to be covered in Annealing:
 Introduction
 Objectives of Annealing
 Types of Annealing Processes
◦ Full Annealing
◦ Spherodise Annealing
◦ Stress Relived Annealing
◦ Process Annealing

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Introduction of Annealing:
 Heating steel to certain predetermined
temperature, holding that temperature for
sufficient time to allow necessary changes
to occur and then cooling slowly at
predetermined cooling rate, preferably in
the furnace or in any good heat-insulating
material.
 The slow cooling is generally continued to
low temperatures.

Objectives of Annealing:
 To relieve internal stresses
 To improve machinability
 To soften steel
 To refine grain and homogenize structure
 To remove gases
 To induce stable structure
 To improve mechanical, electrical,
magnetic properties

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1. Full Annealing
 Heating the steel to the proper temperature
and holding for sufficient time and cooling very
slowly through transformation range in a
furnace.
 When applied to steel full annealing is called as
annealing.
 The purpose of full annealing may be to refine
the grain, induce softness, improve electrical and
magnetic properties, and in some cases improve
the machinability.
 The final heating or austenitizing temperature
range for annealing for the given steel depends
upon the carbon content.
Hypo Eutectoid Steel - Ac3+50
Hyper Eutectoid Steel - Ac1+50

 After heating up to austenitizing

temperature, the steel is held at this
temperature for a minimum of one hour
for up to 25 mm thick sections.
 For larger section, socking (holding) time is
increased at the rate of 30 minutes for each
additional 25 mm of thickness.
 Since the entire mass of the furnace must
be cooled down along with the material,
annealing is a very slow cooling process and
therefore comes closest to the iron-carbon
diagram.

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 Structural changes of 0.2 % C hypo-eutectoid steel using full

annealing  It is desired to refine the grain
size by annealing.
 When this steel is heated, no
change in microstructure will
occur until the A1 (lower
critical temperature).
 At A1temperature the pearlite
areas will transform to small
grains of austenite by means of
eutectoid reaction, but the
original large ferrite will
remains unchanged. Cooling
from this temperature will not
refine the grains.
 Continued heating between A1
and A3 lines will allow the large
ferrite grains to transform in
the fine grains of austenite.
 Subsequent cooling will results
in small grains of pro-eutectoid
ferrite and small areas of coarse
pearlite.
 Therefore, the proper heating
temperature for annealing is
500 above the A3 line.

2. Spherodise Annealing
 To produce globular form of carbide in a
steel
 Min. Hardness & Max. Ductility
 Highest Machinablility
 Applied to high carbon steel having
Pearlite with Cementite network
 Spherodized structure can be produced
by different methods.

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3. Stress Relief Annealing

 Relieves or eliminates internal Stress
induced by cold working, welding, casting
heavy machining etc.
 If these stresses are not relieved material
may be cause warpage or even failure of the
part.
 Heating cold worked steel to a temperature
between 500°C-550°C & cooling in air.
 No change in microstructure is observed as
it is heated below 550°C.

4. Process Annealing
 Remove effects of cold work and permit
further cold work.
 In sheet and wire industries.
 Heated below lower limit of
transformation range 550 to 650°C.
 Cooled in air.

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3rd Sem Mechanical MSM Heat Treatment 31.08.19

Possible phase after annealing:

Type of steel Structure
Hypoeutectoid steel Coarse pearlite + Ferrite
Eutectoid Coarse Pearlite
Hyper eutectoid steel Coarse Pearlite + Cementite

Normalizing
 Heating steel to austenite phase and holding
at that temperature for sufficient time
followed by cooling it in air.
 In Normalizing, the steel is heated
approximately 500 above the upper critical
temperature ( A3 or Acm). Normalizing
temperature generally varies from 810 to
9300 C.
 After reaching normalizing temperature, it is
held at this temperature at the rate of 1
hour/25 mm thickness.
 Higher temperature and longer socking time
may be given for heavier cross-section and
alloy steels.

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Normalizing
 The increase in cooling rate due to air cooling
as compared to furnace cooling in annealing
affects the transformation of austenite.
 Since in normalizing, the cooling is not occur
under equilibrium conditions due to higher
cooling rate, the iron-carbon diagram can not
be used to predict the proportions of phases
exist at room temperature.
 There is less time for the formation of the
proeutectoid constituents; consequently there
will be less proeutectoid ferrite in normalized
hypoeutectoid steels.
 Also, less proeutectoid cementite in
hypereutectoid steels produced as compared
with annealed one.

Normalizing

 Above figure shows the microstructure of a

normalized 0.5% carbon steel (hypoeutectoid).
 In the annealed condition, this steel would have
62% pearlite and 38% proeutectoid ferrite.
 Due to air cooling this steel has only 10%
proeutectoid ferrite(white network) in a dark
pearlite.

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Normalizing
 For hypereutectoid steels, normalizing will
reduce the proeutectoid cementite network.
 Since it was the presence of cementite
network which reduce the strength of
annealed hypereutectoid steels, normalized
steel should show an increase in strength.

 Further, due to faster cooling rate in the

normalizing, lower temperature austenite
transformation occurs which results in finer
pearlite.

Normalizing

 Above figure shows the difference in spacing of the

cementite plates in the pearlite between annealing and
normalizing.
 Ferrite is very soft while cementite is very hard.
 With the cementite plates closer together in the case of
normalized medium pearlite.
 This tend to stiffen the ferrite so it will not yield as easily
, thus increasing hardness.
 If the annealed medium pearlite has hardness of 10 Rc,
then the normalized medium pearlite will be about 20
Rc.

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Purpose of Normalizing:
 The purpose of normalizing is to produce
harder and stronger steel as compared to
full annealing. Therefore, for hypereutectoid
steel, it is necessary to heat above Acm line
in order to dissolve the cementite network.
 It is also used to improve machinability
 Modify and refine the cast dendritic
structures and refine the grain.
 It also used to homogenized the
microstructure in order to improve the
response in hardening operations.

Hardening
 Objective
 Hardening Procedure
 Quenching Medium
 Factors affecting hardness
 Structure of Hardened Steels
 Hardenability of Steel

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3rd Sem Mechanical MSM Heat Treatment 31.08.19

Factors Affecting Hardenability

 Quenching Medium
 Temperature of quenching Medium
 Surface condition of the part
 Size and mass of the part

Comparison Between P/B/M

Pearlite Bainite Martensite

Structure Lamellar Lath + Cm Acicular

Acicular + Cm (Single Phase)

Diffusion Long Range Short Range No Diffusion

Transformation Isothermal Isothermal Athermal

Orientation None Definite Definite

Relationship Relationship Relationship

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Hypo-eutectoid Steel

A3 Line

A1 Line

Annealing

Hardening Normalizing

Temperature Range for HT Process

A,N,H

A, H

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Comparison
Annealing Normalizing Hardening

Structure Coarse Pearlite Fine Pearlite Martensite

Section Size None Little Very High

Effect
Hardness RC 15-20 35-40 64

Residual Stress Low Low High

Stability Most stable Medium Stable Unstable

Ductility Very Good Good Poor

 Tempering
 Hardening is always followed by
tempering
 Purpose of Tempering
 Types of Tempering
◦ Low Temperature Tempering
◦ Medium Temperature Tempering
◦ High Temperature Tempering

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3rd Sem Mechanical MSM Heat Treatment 31.08.19

 Tempering
 Structure of steel obtained after hardening is not
suitable for engineering applications due to following
3 drawbacks.
1. Martensite obtained after hardening is extremely
brittle and will result in failure. of engineering
components by cracking.
2. Formation of martensite produces high internal
stresses in the harden steel as it can result in heavy
distortion and cracking of the part during service.
3. Hardening consists of martensite and retained
austenite. These phases are metastable and will
change to stable phases with time which results
alteration in dimensions and properties of steel.

 Tempering
 Tempering temperature for harden steel
can vary from 100 to 680 C depending
upon the requirements.
 Tool steel tempered at low temperature
to give high hardness and wear resistance.
 Some highly alloyed tool steels which
show secondary hardness are tempered
in the range of 500 to 600 C.

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 Changes occurring During

Tempering
 Relief of internal stresses
 Formation of stable phases
 Increase in toughess
 Hardness changes

 Martempering
 To achieve desired hardness with reduced
stressed for steels having moderate
Hardenability.
 Interrupted Quenching.
 Two stage quenching process.
 It is used for low alloy steels having
adequate hardenability and for steel
having smaller sections.

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3rd Sem Mechanical MSM Heat Treatment 31.08.19

 Martempering
 After heating steel up to the austenzing
temp. it it quenched in the medium having
a temp. slighgly above than Ms (200 to
350 C)
 Compoent is held in the bath until it
reaches the temp. of the quenched
medium and then cooled further to room
temp. in the air or oil
 Holding time should be sufficient to
enable a uniform temp. to be reached
throughout the C/S but not long enough
to cause austenite decomposition

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3rd Sem Mechanical MSM Heat Treatment 31.08.19

 Martempering
 Austenite is transformed into martensite
during the subsequent period of cooling
to room temperature.
 This treatment produces a structure of
martensite and retained austenite in the
harden steel.

 Martempering advantages over

conventional hardening
 Transformation of austenite is uniform all
parts.
 Reduced warping and distortion.
 Less danger of quenching cracks.
 Less volume change in article.

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 Austempering
 It is very similar to martempering.
 Steel is austenized and then quenched in to a salt
bath maintained at at constant temperature in
the range of 260 to 400 C.
 After holding for sufficient period of time to
allow isothermal transformation to be completed.
 After complete transformation of austenite to
bainite, steel is cooled to room temperature in air
 Also called isothermal quenching
 Temperature of quenching lies below the nose of
the TTT curve and above the Ms temp.

 Austempering

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3rd Sem Mechanical MSM Heat Treatment 31.08.19

 Austempering
 Principle purpose of austempering is to
obtain high impact strength and increased
notch toughness at given hardness level
 It is used to decrease likelihood of
cracking and distortion
 Some application it is less expensive then
conventional hardening and tempering
 It can be applied to high carbon as well as
low alloys steel
 Limited to section thickness of 20 mm

Effect of Hardening, Martempering

and Austempering on Mechanical
Properties of 0.95% Carbon Steel

Heat Hardness(R Reduction Impact Elongation

Treatment c) Area Strength (Percentage)
Water 53 20 180 1
Quench and
Temper
Martempered 53 21 330 2
and Tempered
Austempered 52 45 590 10

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Effect Of Other Alloying Elements

On CCT/TTT Curve

Alloy Addition
 Improves Hardenability (except Cobalt).
 Can hard to greater depth or same depth
under less severe quenching
 Helps to reduces quenching severity to
get same hardness
 Can alter phase diagram, transformation
diagram

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